Opposition set on impure motives and unreasonable politics

Dear Editor,

Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall had recently repudiated the notion that a political party can engender transfer of budgetary allocation from the state media to another entity, and regards it as “a blow to democracy and a violation of the constitution of rights of the citizens, to receive government information”.

This was Mr Nandlall’s attempt to stymie the move by Alliance For Change (AFC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), as they were colluding to withdraw support for the budgetary allocations, to the state media entities – the National Communications Network (NCN) and the Government Information Agency (GINA).

Well, it is now history, and the two opposition forces, using their one-seat majority, got their desire.

Now the government of Guyana is forced to contemplate its next move as the Gy$ 300 million in budgetary allocations (for the state-run National Communications Network and the Government Information Agency (GINA)) was slashed.

According to APNU parliamentarian Carl Greenidge, in whose name the motion was tabled, the combined opposition forces were “unhappy” and “dissatisfied” with the quality of reporting and coverage, given by the two entities, more particularly NCN, to the AFC and the APNU. This kind of rhetoric worked and the vote went the opposition’s way.

Now these are the almost immediate setbacks: A ‘snatching’ away of international cricket matches, popular shows, and radio broadcasts, which NCN in particular, usually airs. Also services at reduced rates to many entities will now be a thing of the past. It gets worse here as “GuySuCo Round Up”, “Feel the Beat,” “GRA In Focus,” “Law enforcement and You,” “In the Miners World,” and “Sports Magazine” will all be axed; at least it seems so.

Dear Readers, please note that the action of ‘cutting/ slashing’ by the opposition parties comes over as most contradictory. Prior to this, they used to clamour about access to government information, being informed of what is being done in government agencies and about government policies, activities of the president, argue in favour of a well-informed citizen and now, they are going against all of these.

To me, this is just another example of vindictiveness. I am hoping that especially NCN will make a move towards generating income from services and products.

GINA will have to ‘feel some squeeze’. As noted, this kind of politics borders on the illegal. Maybe there is some kind of overlooked infringement. Also, nothing is cast in stone, and at least there is room for further discussions.

With regards,

Jamunie Greaves